Paris, London, New York and Istanbul have topped a list of the “Most Incredible Cities in the World” published by an Australian travel magazine.

While other recent lists have ranked cities based on their liveability and friendliness (or surliness), International Traveller asked its readers simply to nominate the best cities to travel to.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the magazine is published in this country, all eight Australian capital cities scored a spot in the top 100, with Adelaide coming in at number 60. It ranked behind Melbourne (8), Sydney (9) and Perth (46), but ahead of Darwin (61), Brisbane (73), Hobart (84) and Canberra (91).

Rounding out the top 10 were Rome, Tokyo, Singapore and Berlin.

Le Louvre, Paris. Photo: photophilde/flickre

Although the Australian Government warns Australians to exercise a “high degree of caution” when visiting Turkey, International Traveller editorial director Leigh-Ann Pow said Istanbul was “the city of 2015”.

“It’s really no wonder Istanbul came it at number four behind the big three; this is the hottest place for travellers right now.

“It’s about the exotic east meets west mystique, the fantastic sights, the phenomenal food and shopping, plus the vibrant nightlife.”

Pow said there were a few unexpected results in the rankings, including the fact that Italy’s Venice came in only at number 14, behind places such as Dubai, Hong Kong and Queenstown.

International Traveller’s top 100 is the latest in long line of lists being released by publishers ranking travel places based on a range of different criteria.

Another recent survey, The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Most Liveable Cities 2015 – which considers factors including health care, education, infrastructure and culture – was led by Melbourne, with Adelaide in fifth equal place alongside Canada’s Calgary.

Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Travelist, also published last month and accompanied by a glossy coffee-table book, spruiks the “500 most thrilling, memorable, downright interesting places on the planet”. Leading that bucket list are the Temples of Angkor in Cambodia, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Machu Picchu in Peru and the Great Wall of China.

But one list most cities wouldn’t want to feature on is Travel + Leisure magazine’s least-friendly cities in the world (chosen by readers from a list of 266). Top spot went to Moscow, followed by Atlantic City (US), St Petersburg (Russia) and Marseille (France).